


In the Dark - Malik's part

by SaiJiraija



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Alternative Universe - Modern Setting, Hate to Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-04-19
Packaged: 2018-03-24 19:13:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3781216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaiJiraija/pseuds/SaiJiraija
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Malik and Altair are roommates. No one of them chose this situation and they were forced into it. After a certain event, Malik started see Altair differently, and their relationship slowly starts to change.</p><p>(Malik's point of view)</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Dark - Malik's part

They did not choose to live together, it was chosen for them. If they were being honest, they were forced into this. And both of them too stubborn to leave.

 

Malik was deprived of his solitude and Altaїr did little to ease the transition of having a roommate. Most of his apartment was organised to his liking; organised is a very loose definition of his organisation system, or the lack of it. Even though hardware parts were spread out across the entire apartment, he was fully aware of where every part was, it was an orderly created chaos. What little space was left free of hardware, was occupied either by food leftovers (junk food boxes and wrappers) or his dirty clothes.

Only truly organized part of his living space could not be seen; it was neatly folded into variety of his computers. Everything had its place, sorted by name, type, level of importance, and priority of task.

 

After Altaїr moved in, he was forced to change his habits. The variety of boxes and wrappers were now considered garbage and it was required that he treats them as such; which meant trip to the trash can. In case he actually managed to have leftover food, it was needed to be stored in the fridge. Dirty clothes needed to be put in hamper, which required ‘long’ trip to the bathroom. All of the hardware that was spread across the living room floor was to be taken back into his room. Only thing that was tolerated there was one computer that had to be in its place on the table in the corner of the room.

 

He felt like a child, being constantly told what to do and what not to do, reminded of his shortcomings, and being lectured. Naturally he did what he usually did when he was a child; he went to his room to dwell there, getting out only if he needed sustenance, and retreating back when he was fed.

This rare occasions were followed either by silence or angry looks from both parties involved. It was exhausting.

 

Food that was available for consumption was provided and often made by Altaїr; he was fond of home cooked meals and, if Malik was perfectly honest, he was actually good, and the meals were always more than delicious. But he never thanked him for them, never complimented anything, and never said anything. And worst part of it, he didn’t even notice it.

 

They almost never talked, if we exclude all the times Altaїr yelled at him for one reason or another, but there were a couple of times that there were traces of attempted conversation. There were two such events that Malik could remember; second of which was the cause of all the events that followed.

 

First time they had, more or less, conversation that did not involve (too much) yelling, happened one evening during the power outage.

Due to the outage, they had to stay in the living room, with only light provided was from the candle, sitting in silence, waiting for building keeper to check if everything was in order. The silence was awkward, they lived together for a few months now and only thing they knew about each other were a small details, mostly composed of things that annoyed them. Altaїr was the one that attempted at the conversation first.

“Did you by any chance contribute to this calamity?” not a good start, but it was something. An olive branch, probably drenched in oil and in wait for Malik to light it on fire.

 

“No.” it was a short answer with the intolerance spreading across his face in response to the whole notion of him being the sole cause of this. “At least not intentionally…” he had to admit (unwillingly) that it is possible, and probable, that he was the cause of this. His voice was low and his expression changed, no longer a frown but a hint of wonder.

 

“So you admit you are capable of such a thing?” this was a stupid question to ask. Of course he was capable; if he can hack into government’s servers, power grid of a city block should be nothing to him.

 

“Yes.” He was staring at the flame of the candle, without an expression. His mind was still stuck on retracing his steps and possible cause of this.

 

Altaїr tried, really hard, not to lose his temper. After a few more moments of silence, he continued “Are you always this eloquent, or is it just me?” the irritation could be heard in his voice as Altaїr slid into more comfortable position on the sofa.

 

“Sometimes.” Malik continued to convey no expression, still sitting on the floor, still staring at the flame.

 

“Sometimes what? Is that supposed to be an answer? It doesn’t even make any sense!” Altaїr waved his hand in absurdity of Malik’s answer and made the light flicker for a short moment.

 

“Why do you even care?” this time he was looking at Altaїr.

 

 “Oh look, it is able to speak more than a word at a time. Congratulations! Now if we can only make you use intelligible sentences.” Words were not said without presence of mockery.

 

“I am perfectly capable of using words that convey meaning; it is my right to choose not to.” he stood up, back facing Altaїr, obviously in rage “And I am not an it!” by the tone of his voice and the way his palm clenched into a fist showed to Altaїr that this is what hurt him more.

 

“Tell me then; why do you choose not to?”  There was no mockery in his voice, no judgement, no anger. It was just a question from one person to another.

 

“I do not find that people are worth my time.” It was clear that Malik calmed down a bit.

 

“And why do you suppose, in that case, that people would find you worth their time.” At this point they were both agitated at the whole conversation and the atmosphere. Knock on the door broke the tension. Altaїr went to the doors; he knew it was only the keeper. With a calm voice he sent him away, assuring him they were in no need of assistance.

By the time he came back to the living room, Malik was already gone. The candle was extinguished.

 

The whole conversation, if it could be named as such, was still burned deep in Malik’s mind. Altaїr’s arrogance and ignorance when he dared to call him _it_ , his probing at things he did not want to share, and his reaction to the thing he did share.

 

He was angry at those words at first; _find you worth of their time_ like he knew anything about him. Like he even dared to ask, not that Malik would share his past so easily or willingly. But as he lingered on these words, he started to view them differently. Did Altaїr want to tell him something with this, or was it just a meaningless taunt at him? Did he owe anyone anything, any benefit of the doubt?

 

These taught hunted him long after he fell asleep. Long after he woke up; and they lingered.

 

***

Once again Malik had to suffer through his precious power being shut off as the last of his hardware was slowly stopping. This time he was sure that he had nothing to do with these events.

He could see green lights being lit all over the building; another fire drill, this time unannounced. With obvious annoyance on his face, he got up, put on his shirt, and started to walk slowly to the doors. There was no rush since he neither saw nor heard any sign of distress that could cause this event except for this burden of a drill.

 

While exiting their apartment, Malik taught he should wait for Altaїr to go to the basement (meeting place) with him. He held no affection for the person, but this was a matter of etiquette, or so it was burnt into his mind so often, and more often ignored. After a few seconds of wait, he remembered that Altaїr was out at this time; he was holding extra hours of training at the studio for kid that would leave for regional competition in a few days. He huffed at his ignorance and closed the door shut with the sound of lock being turned.

 

After a few minutes of going down the stairs (since the lifts were not working at this time), he dejectedly stepped into common room of the basement where all residents, currently in the building, were to meet during this manner of event. He was in no mood to be surrounded by people, and even less happy to see how many has come.

 

The room was crowded; despite being rather large room that could easily fit this many people, Malik felt trapped and threatened by the ever growing presence of others. He knew only a few people from the building, and that was only because of accidental meetings that took place on his way to or from grocery store. That was long time ago; now he resorted to having his groceries delivered to him straight from the store (Altaїr’s idea), ordered from any fast food restaurant when he could not be bother to make his own food (in spite of Altaїr’s objections), and he also had Altaїr to bring and make food that was (at his surprise) better than any since he left (was kicked from) home. Altaїr did not object to sharing the food with Malik because of their agreement; all expenses are shared between them, including food.

 

Malik had surprisingly good and rather steady pay check and was in no need of a roommate, he could easily covered all his expenses with abundant to spare. What he did need was someone to keep him in check, to make sure he would actually clean up after himself, clean himself, and to make sure he was actually alive.

Ezio, the building owner, took Malik in after unfortunate turn of event at his home (he was not sure what exactly happened, and he was reluctant to ask). He was the one that ‘invited’ Altaїr to share apartment with Malik, and look after the poor fool. Altaїr did not accept easily, but the apartment was close to the studio and the agreement he made with Ezio made it worth his while. Over time, Altaїr developed a certain tolerance to Malik’s presence, and vice versa.

 

After a few minutes of Malik standing in corner and leaning his back against the wall while ignoring everyone, the worst person imaginable walked into the room - Cesare Borgia with his dear sister Lucrezia. Their father owned building complex in the vicinity and they were the probable cause of their forced fire drill; nothing better than annoying competition.

Malik decided at that moment that their building will run into some electrical trouble for the next few weeks. He did the best he could to tune out Cesare’s voice, but the tone and the arrogance of it was gushing out for everyone to hear, and was hard to tune out.

 

“Is this all my rival is capable of organizing? This pitifully display of organization? Even this room is example of poor preparation. Why are you all still wasting your life in this rat infested structure?” Cesare was strutting through the room with a smirk on his face, Lucrezia under his arm smiling accordingly.

It was an amusing display, Malik was perfectly aware of what that hand holding meant to the two.

 

“Only rat here is you. Could you please just admin that you caused this so we can all go back to our apartments?” Malik’s voice could be heard from the back of the room. He has had enough of this display.

 

“Who was that? Where are you hiding little mouse?” people moved out of his way as he was walking towards Malik, if one can consider being forcefully pushed as wilful movement “Oh look at you, you pinned yourself to the wall to spare me the trouble of doing it myself.” he was barely containing himself from bursting in laughter.

Malik was leaning against the wall with the hood on his head (to shield him from the crowd of people). He was not pleased with this arrogant prick and his smug face and laugh. Cesare whispered something to Lucrezia and they both shared a laugh.

 

“Yes, I bet having done it only with your sister is incredibly funny.” Malik had victorious smirk on his face. Those words slapped Cesare right on the spot. He was no longer laughing, instead his face was indicating that he is on the verge of making his problems disappear by any means necessary.

 

After a few second of them staring at each other, and Malik losing his smirk since he knew what was probably coming for him, Cesare pinned him to the wall, carefully placing his hand on Malik’s neck and forcing Malik to defend himself or allow him to crush his throat. Malik managed to protect his neck, as best as he could, considering that he was rather weak individual with no experience in fighting; fighting back to be more precise. Cesare already had his other hand clenched in preparation to smash Malik’s face.

 

Everything happened in a flash, before he knew it Malik was on the floor with a headache, bruised shoulder, pain in his ribs, broken nose, and a few other aches he could not identify at this time due to dizziness. He heard a familiar voice in the distance, arguing with Cesare. When his vision allowed him to focus on distant shapes, he saw Altaїr holding Cesare and his broken nose in the air. His face in a grimace filled with anger; it probably took all he had to only break Cesare’s nose. Ezio was there, trying to fix the situation. Malik fell into unconsciousness again.

 

***

The uncomfortable and uneasy feeling, the pain throughout his body and now the sensation of moving. Malik’s mind drifted in and out of consciousness, he could not examine the whole situation and that vexed him greatly. What he did manage to notice was that he was being carried by someone, carried up a stairs; the sensation alone was enough to make him feel sick.

 

“Let go of me…” only words that Malik managed to say before his head fell back onto Altaїr’s shoulder. It slipped further towards his neck, it stopped when it was securely resting in the gap below right side of Altaїr‘s neck.

 

He did not appreciate people touching him, even doctor’s appointments were only barely tolerated; result of very sad childhood. Neglect, beatings, cries, and screams were a common part of his growing up.

 

Although he was unconscious and unable (or unwilling) to open his eyes, he did feel someone’s hands on him, and a sent that soothed him into ease.

Malik was not sure for how long he has been unconscious, but the first thing he saw when he woke up was ceiling of his apartment. He tried to get up but he was too weak and exhausted to do so; he could do nothing but fall back down. Even though there were several blankets underneath him and a few pillows, the drop reawakened aches all over his body. He drowned the sound of pain and let out just a silent sigh.

 

His gaze was now turned towards coffee table and items that were on it. There were several bloody gauzes, bottle of alcohol, unopened bandages, ruined undershirt, and bloody shirt. After a few seconds he realized that he was not wearing any shirt at this particular moment, all he had on him was a blanket and bandage over his left forearm. Upon inspecting it further, he noticed that he had little opened wound beneath the bandage; he probably tore his skin more while falling down. He started looking at the ceiling again. His breath was heavy. First he had to suffer indecency of being beaten surrounded by so many people, and now this annoyance of his roommate was actually taking care of him.

 

“Are you finally awake?” Altaїr’s voice was coming from bathroom. Question was not met with any answer “You know, your eyes are pretty open for unconscious person.” He was in the living room now. Malik bothered to tilt his head enough to look at him. Altaїr looked like he just got out of shower; he was wearing only bottom part of one of his sweat suit, his skin was still a bit damp from water, and his hair was wet although he was drying it with a towel.

 

Malik suddenly realized that in the past (how much was now?) years, he has never seen Altaїr without his shirt. He was very athletically built and did very good job of hiding it behind those god awful shirts of his. There was certain grace in his movements. Before he realised it, he was staring.

 

“Has your accident left you a mute? If you wish to communicate with glances, you will need to give me a manual. I will not bother guessing.” A beautiful moment ruined because of those mouth of his. Malik’s head moved back to a position where he was able to stare at the ceiling. Taught that crossed his mind _Why does he have to speak_ …

 

“I am well able to speak. Now leave me alone.” He tried to wave him off with his left arm and realised, right away, that it was a poor choice of hand. Although the wound was not deep, the skin has not yet settled and disturbing it gave him a painful lesion on his behaviour.

 

“Sure, as soon as I take you to the hospital. I will not be responsible for your possible inner bleeding.” Malik has completely forgotten about incident from, presumably, an hour ago. This is not how he want this to go, more people involved, more people around him, more people in general. He just wanted to lie there alone, preferably in his bed, but anywhere in apartment will suffice for now.

 

“I am fine, you can go do whatever it is you do when you get home. Leave me.” This time no movement; still body will ache less. Malik’s mind was still befuddled by how he felt right now, there was something he could not make out, something unknown to him. Maybe he will be lucky enough to trick his body into sleep; a bit of relaxation will help.

 

“You are fine?” Altaїr approached him, sat on the table (by the arrangement of items, it looked like he was already sitting there before, while tending to his wounds), and pressed his finger between Malik’s ribs. He did not use a lot of force, but enough for Malik to let out a painful sound “Yes, you seem perfectly fine. No reason to suspect broken or cracked ribs. Well, I will be off to bed. Good night.” He got up in an attempt to walk to his room. Maybe Malik’s decision to shrug off any help was not something he could afford at this time.

 

“Wait!” he grabbed the edges of Altaїr’s tracksuit. Again the left hand, and again the pain of poor choice. He turned his head away from Altaїr, he did not want to admit the words he is about to speak “I… could use…” these words did not leave easily “help…” He let go of Altaїr as his hand collapsed towards the floor; another unpleasant experience. “But I do not want to go anywhere. Physician will come here.”

 

“So you want your private doctor?” Altaїr turned back. He sat down on the table again and took the phone that was left on the edge of table behind him.

 

“No, I don’t.” this answer was followed by Altaїr’s confused look.

 

“You do realise that no one from emergency call room will come unless it is… an emergency? Your condition is stable at the moment, they will not waste medics on you.” Malik hated to admit it, but he was right. No one will come unless he is dying. His options were to stay there and bleed out internally with possible broken rib, sleep until tomorrow and see if he is still alive, or allow Altaїr to take him to the doctor. He was too tired to think, all he wanted was some rest and solitude. Why did Ezio forbid smoking inside the building; he could use a cigarette right about now (not that he smoked, but the situation seemed to fit the need).

 

“Well good thing you taught of that, never came to my mind.” Altaїr was slowly losing his calmness; he had a long day and just wanted some rest, and that could not happen until he made sure that Malik was doing well.

 

Altaїr got up, dialled some number, and made some kind of an arrangement. He moved away and Malik did not bother to listen, it was probably one of Altaїr’s friends who was now getting details of his beating and poor health choices. _Why can’t he just leave me alone_ …

 

“Ok, thank you Ezio.” These words caught Malik’s attention, was that call for his benefit? “I will leave you alone soon enough. Ezio will get his doctor here, you don’t have to go anywhere.” He sat back on the table “I will be here until he arrives. And no, I won’t talk, you don’t have to worry.” Altaїr just crossed his arms and closed his eyes; he looked almost like meditating. He was probably sleeping or taking a quick nap; last time he was in the apartment that day was at 7 a.m. and Malik could not blame him for dozing off.

 

Malik shifted his head and looked at Altaїr. He was actually tolerable like this, silent and calm, there was no frowned face or angry, irritated face, no annoying sound about putting something away or whatever. And yet again, Malik was staring; this was probably his first and only chance to look at this Altaїr, calm Altaїr. As he watched him, his chest slowly inhaling and exhaling while his head started to drop bit by bit. Malik reached out his hand towards him and stopped in an instant. This was the person who he was having constant argues, angry silences, and stubborn defiance; so why is he now reaching for him? Why was he paying any attention to him? Maybe he hit his head harder than his ribs.

 

There was a sudden and loud knock on the doors. Altaїr snapped out of his nap and went to open it; Malik was looking at the ceiling, his cheeks were a slight red colour which Altaїr did not notice or refused to give it any taught.

 

It was the physician “Good evening. Ezio gave me a sudden call saying…” Altaїr interrupted him “Yes, thank you for coming this late. Ezio did explain everything?” he was glad this wait was finally over and he wanted to get his rest as soon as he could.

 

“He did. I will see what is wrong but I will not be able to fix any severe conditions, I hope you are aware of this?” he wanted to make sure that both of them realized that this examination was strictly informative, he cannot do much without certain items and machines.

 

“I am aware. Any diagnose will be appreciated.” The doors closed.

 

After a quick examination, doctor concluded that there was no internal bleeding or broken bones; only bruises that would take some time to heal. He recommended bed rest; which won’t be too hard for Malik since his day is mostly composed of sitting and barely moving. And he should come to see him in a few days just to make sure that his diagnose was correct one; and in case he was wrong, there was still time to correct it.

 

After he left, Altaїr locked the doors, let out a tired sigh, and headed to his room “You will be fine. If you wish I can take you to your room.” It would be a bother for him at this point but he still felt obliged to ask.

 

“I am fine here.” Malik wanted to avoid any further contact with Altaїr, physical or verbal.

 

Altaїr continued to his room. Before he could open the doors he heard Malik say “Thank you…” His head turned slightly. This was the first time Malik had thanked him for… anything; he was not sure how to react. Only answer he could give was a short nod. It was enough.

 

Malik was still awake for few hours after this. His head was a mess and he was confused to how he felt; his body still hurt and went numb at the same time. He finally fell asleep with this floating over his head _Why him_ …

 

When Malik woke it was already a bright day outside. The coffee table was again clean; his clothes from day before were gone. Instead of the mess from last night, he saw two buttered toast slices and one poached egg. A stupid smile stretched across his face as his head slid back into position from moments before. He was not sure whether to be happy or confused.

 

After a few deep breaths he managed to lift himself into a sitting position; a feat not easily accomplished. The bruise on his ribs was even worse now, it had time to settle in and dig its influence and spread beyond its limits. Sitting straight was impossible, Malik had to hunch forward, putting more weight to his left flank to silence the pain.

 

His left hand was still not ready to be used and felt more comfortable in his lap than helping him eat. With his remaining hand he creates a little sandwich out of the egg and the bread; this seemed like easier way of consuming his meal. He did not eat it, just returned it to the plate.

 

Memories from last night came back to his head. Malik felt weak, beaten… he rested his head in his right hand as he laughed at his misfortune. He laughed because he did not want to cry, he could not.

 

His gaze shifted towards window, smile faded; Altaїr removed shades from it to let the sun in. He probably did not want to wake Malik up when he was going out so he left the sun to do his dirty work. Malik stayed like that for a while, just soaking in the sun and its warmth; it has been a while since he did this, sun was a mystery to his skin at this point.

 

As time was passing, Malik decided to shift his gaze back to his breakfast.

While observing it he was pondering about the way he usually would annoy Altaїr. He could tell him that there was a bacon missing from his plate or he could just not say anything. It would be interesting to see his reaction to the comment. In all honesty, he did enjoy his breakfast, beaconless as it was.

 

After the breakfast, he decided to be polite and take the plate back to the kitchen (yes, he did do this on an occasion). He put it neatly in an empty sink; except for his disturbance, there was no trace that this kitchen was in use at all. Again, he felt weak, and useless; Altaїr was trying to keep everything presentable and clean, and there he was, useless person who could not help even if he decided to. There was nothing to clean, nor would he be able to clean it properly out of sheer ignorance to how.

 

While turning around to slither back to his room, Malik notices something neatly folded at the edge of the kitchen table; unseen until then. It was a robe, dark one and in his size, but he did not possess anything like this. Even if he did, Altaїr would not enter his room to search for it. The robe must be Altaїr’s; judging from its size, it was his old robe, too small for him now.

 

Malik was not sure if it was laid there for him or not, but he decided to put it on. The robe was deep dark blue in colour and only patter on it was something, Malik presumed, tribal and white on its back. The robe was falling perfectly off of Malik’s body; the sleeves and the robe in general were the right length and folds on it complimented Malik’s stance. He will adopt it for a time, just until Altaїr demands it back.

 

After yesterday, Malik has lost his will to do anything productive, he needed something to relax. The computer in the living room could be of use; there are mostly games on that old thing, he could find something interesting there. The thing was located on the corner table near the doors to Malik’s room and was positioned so that person sitting at it could see through the window (one of Altaїr’s ideas to try and unstuck Malik from the screen, feat resulted in Malik permanently moving himself to his room).

 

It took a few minutes for the poor thing to start; it was not used for who knows how long and it must be rather dusty and programs obsolete. Those problems Malik chose to ignore, today was not the day he will worry about it; maybe tomorrow.

 

After everything has loaded, Malik still needs to enter password in order to gain access to everything. He smiles as he remembers the password… _altaїr is an idiot_. He starts scrolling through all the content that was left on it and long forgotten. Triggering a few memories along the way.

 

***

 

Malik found himself staring out the window when he heard the key in the doors and the sound of unlocking, it was not long before the doors opened and Altaїr came into the room. The key warning gave Malik enough time to position himself facing the monitor and placing his hand on the mouse to resemble something productive.

 

“You are up.” Altaїr noticed as he closed the doors. He probably was a bit surprised finding Malik in the living room.

 

“Yes.” Short answer. Malik noticed just now that he was still on log in screen of the game he started who knows how long ago “Hi.” After saying this his hand had a sudden urge to inflict pain on his head.

 

“…Hi.” For Altaїr, this was unusual exchange of pleasantries; and it could have been read from his voice.

 

Why was he so nervous; he never cared what Altaїr taught of him. Why does he suddenly seem so compliant for him? Is he actually thankful to Altaїr for helping him last night? Maybe he did not notice… Maybe he doesn’t care…

 

“Leonardo sent you something; some kind of food I presume. It is in the fridge. I am not sure what it is, but he says you will like it.” Altaїr was already sitting on the sofa few steps away from him.

 

“I will see what it is later.” He started randomly clicking on screen of the game pretending to be looking for something.

 

Altaїr doesn’t seem to care or notice what Malik is doing (or trying to do); he turned on the TV and stretched across the sofa, head pointed towards Malik as to see less of him.

 

It was long time since Malik was in the living room with Altaїr, and he was not sure what he should do at this point. He could just ignore his presence (as he has done so many times before), or he could actually engage in some manner of conversation. He was confused after last night’s events to what he should do now, how he should act; it is not like they teach you stuff like this (or maybe they did, but Malik paid no attention to it).

 

He decided to speak “You know you could have…” he turned to face Altaїr (as much as he could while staring at the brown locks on top of his hair. Altaїr was sleeping, and any kind of conversation Malik attempted was fruitless. He could not blame Altaїr, he woke up well before Malik and managed to make him breakfast, clean the kitchen of mess as a result of making it, and leave without waking him up.

 

Malik silently turned away… Stared through the window again; his gaze occasionally running to the person stretching across the sofa, listening to him breathe.

 

***

 

Sudden movement from Altaїr shook Malik from his trance, his eyes were at his monitor. That god damn game! A quick alt-tab to somewhere, click on some program, open strings of lines, anything else!

 

Altaїr was quick at getting up and marching towards the doors “Leaving already?” Malik was genuinely surprised at this; like he has never spent a day with this person.

 

“Yes. I still have a work to do. I might even be a little late. Sorry, but you will have to make your own lunch today.” The doors closed and Altaїr was gone, as suddenly as he returned not too long ago.

 

Malik was alone again.

 

***

 

An hour later there was a knock at the door. Malik lazily got up to answer, something he hasn’t done in a very long time; his left hand bent at elbow and forearm stretching across his abdomen (only position it allowed Malik to be in). Malik opened the doors to see Ezio there.

 

“Hello, Malik. Is Altaїr not here?”

 

“I taught he was with you. He said he had work to do.” This conversation brought confusion both to Malik and Ezio.

 

“No, we are to meet around 5. I was hoping to enquire about you, actually, so perhaps it is better that you answered.” Ezio smiled. He knew Malik spent most of his time in his room, away from everyone, and this short meeting gave him a bit of joy. “How are you? I hope there are no serious injuries from last night?”

 

“None. Unless you count hurt ego and damaged pride as serious injury…” he looked away.

 

“Even those wounds can heal quickly.” Smile was still on his face; no doubt he appreciated talking to him. He glanced at Malik’s choice of wardrobe and gave him a little smirk. All Malik had on was some pair of trousers and robe he found this morning.

 

“I apologize, I did not expect guests.” He was using arm to hold the robe so it would give some resemblance of civil appearance.

 

“It is quite understandable. Is this newly acquired garment?” still a smile on his face.

 

“Yes…” confusion on Malik’s face grew. All he got was a barely perceptible shake of head and endearing sound. “Well I must apologize, but duty calls.” Ezio turned to leave.

 

“Wait!” Malik had one more thing to exchange with Ezio. “Could I ask for a favour?” he was unsure why he was doing this.

 

“Anything.” Ezio returned to face Malik, who was looking away in shame or because of something else that made him uneasy.

 

***

 

 

The sun has already set and the only brightness coming through window is the light of the city. This is the time when Malik hears knock at the doors. It is late enough for it to be Altaїr coming back from practice, but he has the keys and has no reason to knock. This is second time today he decides to involve himself with the outside world by opening the doors and let whoever is there disturb his peaceful evening.

 

“Good evening! Do you mind if we share a couple of words over a coffee?” the smiling face that let itself in without being invited or getting any response belonged to Leonardo. Malik was still trying to understand what just happened when he noticed that Leonardo was already on the sofa, inviting him to come.

 

 “Yes, hi…” With confusion fading, but still lingering on his face, Malik closed the doors and turned to Leonardo “Is there a problem?” This was only explanation he could come up with. Why would Leonardo be here otherwise? Taught that was in Malik’s mind was that he would get some kind of reprimand for what he had caused the night before.

 

 “No, no problems at all. I just wanted to chat with you for a bit. I hope that is alright with you?” he just sunk leisurely in the sofa while his eyes were still on Malik. He expected that Malik would come to sit with him or that he would first make some coffee. Either was fine with him.

 

 “It is fine. I am just not used to having visitors often.” Malik went towards the kitchen to make coffee “Even if someone comes here, it is usually someone looking for Altaїr, so I am a bit surprised.” Malik was standing, a bit confused, in front of various shelves and cabinets, unsure where he would find coffee or the pot. He tried to find them, searched in cabinets and looked on the shelves, but it was all to no avail. He did not know the arrangement of anything in the kitchen, finding one thing among others was a hard task. He admitted defeat; his hands were pressed against the counter with sadness and failure in his eyes.

 

It became clear to Leonardo; Malik felt like stranger in his own home. In hope of helping Malik to feel better, he changed his drinking desire. “You know, I am not in a mood for coffee. Maybe juice would be a better choice.” Malik knew what was offered to him, and he accepted it, uneasy as it was.

 

Juice was acceptable replacement for coffee. Its place was the fridge, always the fridge so he did not have to wonder aimlessly again. After he opened the fridge, he saw two bottles of different types of juice. “We have orange and…” other one was red and he could not identify it right away; and the label did not help since there was no flavour written on it, only the picture. “…and strawberry?” he looked at Leonardo for his decision.

 

“I would kindly ask for strawberry. I can never resist them.” His smile was still on his face, the kind and caring smile that expressed the carefree spirit of this person.

 

Malik nodded and took the juice out of the fridge. Glasses were easy to find; they were on the shelf above the fridge. He did need to stretch a bit since the shelf was a bit higher up; Altaїr organised the kitchen according to his needs, not Malik’s.

 

Malik could not remember last time he actually drank juice, even less what kind of juice he preferred or liked. To avoid further inconveniences, he poured some strawberry flavoured juice for himself as well.

Carrying the glasses was not easy; his arm still hurt, but he managed to get it to the table. After putting both of them down he noticed that he had no coasters; and he could probably waste half a day looking for them. Altaїr will probably be upset if they mess the table, but he will deal with that later.

 

As soon as Malik sat, Leonardo reached for the juice. He seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. “This one is really good! I rarely find one so tasty. Tell me, where can I purchase this?” it was just after he has asked that he realised what he has asked. Malik probably did not know since he was not the one that bought it. Leonardo wanted to apologise for stupid question but he was interrupted.

“I will ask Altaїr. He does the shopping.” Malik’s gaze was directed towards the carpet. He was embarrassed that he did not know anything about his own living space. Most of his time was spent in his room, dong something on one of his computers; he kept telling himself that he was too busy to pay attention. He knew that wasn’t true, he was just lazy and distracted by childish things.

 

“You became quite dependant on him. Am I correct?” Smile on Leonardo’s face was somewhat different. It was not the regular kind-hearted smile, this had more mischief in it. He even shifted his body to match it, facing Malik, expecting his reaction.

 

Malik still had a bit of sadness in his face, but he answered the question with a lot of discomfort “Since he is living here, he can at least do something productive. Why should I bother myself with the rest of the apartment when I spend most of my time in my room?” He realised this was not the smartest thing he said; between him and Altaїr, he looked like the bad guy. He was still looking at the carpet, this time with leisure on his face, sneering at himself.

 

“Yes, I say tending to the apartment really is productive. So he is here a lot? Does he not go out during the day?” Leonardo knew what he was asking, he was aware that Altaїr spent most of his day outside the apartment working for Ezio. He just wanted this taught to sink deeper into Malik’s mind.

 

“No.” he turned to face Leonardo “He is out most of the day, and, because of his training, he comes back rather late.” He suddenly became disgusted with himself. This was the moment he realized how useless around here he really was. Even though he did have a lot of work, to him those were menial tasks done in a matter of hours. A job that could take a week for some other programmer to finish, he could easily be done with in a day or two. Most of his free time was spend crashing sites or playing games; whichever seemed more fun at the given time.

 

“I see. So when does he find time to tend to all of this?” Malik did not have an answer for this. Only time he did communicate with Altaїr, is when he calls him for food (be it breakfast, lunch or dinner). He is not even sure what it is Altaїr does for a living.

 

_What is wrong with me…_

 

After seeing Malik’s face frozen in taught, Leonardo decided to continue the conversation; he accomplished what he wanted.

 

“Tell me, how are you feeling? Is everything alright? You were not hurt bad?” a quick recollection on the event from last night.

“I am fine, just a bit bruised. Altaїr…” a slight pause before he could continue; he was reminded again how much he became dependant on him “Altaїr disinfected all the wounds and they seem to be healing nicely. Even though it is just the first day.”

 

“You should ask him to teach you some moves.” He finally got to the part of conversation he was aiming at from the very beginning.

 

“Moves?” a confused look came with the question.

 

“Yes, he is rather skilled at many martial arts. Or so Ezio tells me. He could train you so that you can defend yourself next time.” Malik did not know how to react, what to say. He was not even sure what Leonardo just proposed.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I am not saying that you should go around provoking people (even more), but it is always good to know how to stand up for yourself. Is it not?” he still had that smile on his face. And it started to annoy Malik more than it should. This friendly façade was just a cover for something he was not sure he wanted.

 

“What makes you think I would agree to this? What makes you think HE would agree to this?” even if he agrees, there is no proof Altaїr wold accept this.

 

“What if I told you he said he agreed to this?” Leonardo knew that Altaїr did not tell him that he agrees to do anything, but a little freedom of interpretation can’t harm.

 

“You already asked him? And he said yes?” This came as a shock to Malik, shock clearly visible on his face. Why would this person agree to do more for him? Doesn’t he despise him? Maybe Leonardo talked him into this, manipulated the conversation; much like he is doing now.

 

“Yes, we already talked. I have even managed to get him extra free time from work. All that is needed now is your answer.” He scooted closer to Malik, bursting with anticipation. A move Malik answered with leaning a bit back; he was not sure what Leonardo was doing.

 

“I will see…” Only answer Malik could give at this time. He needed to think about this. Does he really want to let himself be pushed to Altaїr?

“You have time until I finish my juice.” He reached for the glass.

 

“What?!” time was running out, Leonardo obviously enjoyed that juice too much. And before he could actually think, the juice was gone.

 

“So, what is your answer?” Leonardo was licking remaining of the juice from his lips.

 

What could he say, what answer can he give at this short time? “Could you give me more time to think?”

 

“Why do you need more time? You either want to learn to defend yourself or you don’t. It is that easy.” how Malik hated that smile of his.

 

“You do not propose just training, what you are saying…” he was interrupted with the sound of opening doors. It was Altaїr.

 

Altaїr quickly inspected the room; he did not know what to think of the sight. Malik was looking at him with the exactly confused face. While Altaїr was lost in shock, Malik was lost in his confusion. Leonardo’s eyes were still on Malik, eagerly expecting the answer.

 

“Am I interrupting something?” the whole situation seemed to tense to just ignore it, Altaїr had to say something to clear it out.

 

“No, no! I was just having a little chat with Malik.” Still eagerly looking at Malik, with his smile “So, what is your answer?”

 

Malik’s eyes switched from Altaїr back to Leonardo. After he stared at him for a few seconds, he just dropped his head and gave the answer still unsure of what he wanted “Yes.”

 

“Excellent! I will make all further preparations for when you get well.” Leonardo sprang off the sofa with the most exciting look. Before either Altaїr or Malik knew what happened, Leonardo was out of their apartment, passing a wink to Altaїr as he exited.

 

“What was this about?” Altaїr closed the doors and locked them behind him.

 

“Leonardo… said that you wanted to train me…” he could not find strength to look at Altaїr.

 

“Willing. I told him I was willing to train you.” A needed correction.

 

“Semantics…” barely heard remark.

 

“Important semantics. I never said I want to train you, only that I would if Leonardo somehow managed to talk you into it.” He stretched as he was going to the bathroom. “I did not think he could actually talk you into it.” He was already closing the doors behind him, Malik did not know what to say. Or how to feel.

 

***

 

After a shower, Altaїr came to living room in hopes that he could spend half an hour clearing his mind while watching TV. His steps came to a stop after he saw Malik standing near his room, waiting for him. A sight Altaїr never saw before.

 

“I am sorry for being a bother to you.” Words uneasily rolled down Malik’s tongue.

 

Altaїr did not know what to say; this is second time Malik was acting strange (strange for Malik standards). Altaїr stance changed, he was confused and tired; was this conversation necessary now.

 

“Why are you telling me this?” there was no kindness in his voice.

 

“You don’t have to waste more of your time on me. You are not obligated to train me or show me anything. It does not matter that…” he was interrupted in his self-pitying speech.

 

“It does matter. I made an obligation to Leonardo and I will stand by my words.” He continued to the sofa “It does not matter how Leonardo came to persuade you to accept, but my end of the deal still stands.” He sat and turned on the TV; he did not look at Malik once.

 

“So… You will train me?” Malik was unsure whether to be happy or confused; perhaps he was a bit of both.

 

“Yes. But when you heal. You are unable to do anything now.” He waved his hand at him “Go rest.”

 

Malik slowly turned to the doors to his room, still unsure what to feel. Before he closed the doors behind him, he let out a small farewell “Good night…” The doors were closed, no other sound was heard.


End file.
